What Does a Kindergarten Program Expect?
Although the list below is helpful in assessing your child’s skills, it’s not a checklist for success or failure. By knowing our children’s strengths and mastered skills and the opinions of their teachers and pediatricians, we are better equipped to decide when our children should begin school. The list below includes minimum expectations of a typical school:
- Separates easily from parent
- Interacts well with other children
- Takes turns
- Shares
- Speaks clearly in complete sentences
- Says full name
- Tells age
- Toilet trained
- Puts on and removes outerwear with little or no help
- Manipulates snaps, buttons, and zippers on clothing
- Follows sequenced directions with two or three steps
- Listens carefully and obeys the teacher
- Listens to a story in a group for 10-15 minutes
- Focuses on an activity independently for 10-15 minutes
- Works cooperatively in a small group
- Functions effectively in a large group
- Recognizes and names primary colors
- Uses crayons and markers
- Writes first name
- Uses scissors
- Counts most numerals up to 10
- Recognizes many letters of the alphabet
The best advice is to take a tour of the schools that your child may attend or go to a kindergarten open house. In addition, talk to parents who have children attending the school.
5 comments:
Thats interesting! Gracie can do all of those... but as she is only 4, and wont be 5 until May, she isn't eligible. I guess that's good. Why stick her with homework and the pressures of learning at such a young age? She is thrilled to be learning how to read and do simple math... but for Gracie, it isn't learning, its just fun.
Maddie is the same age as Gracie, isn't she? What are you planning on doing with her?
Well, what I'd like to do with her is...oh sorry wrong post huh? :) The only school that is 'food allergy friendly' is a local private Lutheran school so I think that is the way we are going to go. All of her preschool friends just graduated so she is now in the top dog slot of her preschool starting this coming week. So, next year we will be starting school....can you believe it? She just turned 4 in April and now I have to think about kindergarten....ugh!
Yay! I am ready for kindergarten!
PussDaddy
There's something to be said for home schooling, start early. We parents all do it even after the kids get into "regular" school... ever help with homework? That's home schooling. My son and daughter-in-law do it full time with my 4 grandsons, and I am always amazed at what they are learning. I know this is a bit off the subject, but prep for school is very important, academic and social "wise".
Pat
That's a good list---I worry a lot about schools pushing kids too early and too fast so they can pass those awful "No Child Left Behind" tests. Here in Texas they have started to teach a lot of subjects that used to be for first grade in Kindergarten.Seems to make sense-at least to me-that every child might develop on a different timetable, some slower, some more quickly in certain areas, and that could all be okay.
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